Bruised and Blue

By T.E. Kalem

RUNAWAYS

Written, Composed and Directed by Elizabeth Swados

While this musical is about children who run away from home, the show itself is plagued with relatives.

To name the most obvious ones, all of which, like Runaways, either originated or generated excitement at Joseph Papp's Public Theater in Greenwich Village: Hair, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf and A Chorus Line. This musical's basic structure derives from Chorus Line. Like the gypsies in that show, who deliver soliloquies as to why they ran away to Broadway to dance, the bruised youngsters in Runaways sing songs of woe about fleeing ugly homes for streets and scenes sometimes even darker. What Elizabeth Swados, 27, here portrays in a dramatically erratic way is an urban Walpurgisnacht of the young. Through her cast, some of whom were actual runaways, she captures the abusive home life that gives these children a rage to escape, and the confusion, dread and loneliness that ensue. One song tells of a hitchhiker who stood on a highway holding a sign saying ANYWHERE, and that says it all.

Swados sadly indulges in a punitive blame game charging parents with a shortfall of love. Short decades ago, the family was a self-contained unit sustained by all of society. Today, the world invades the home, and luck plays a greater role than affection or discipline in welding family unity.

As to Swados' music, it is eclectic and lacks her own signature. Nonetheless, the stage thrums with salsa, country-and-western, disco and blues. The choreography is basic jogger, marathon-style. Nan-Lynn Nelson has the loveliest voice of the evening, but the entire superbly energetic cast deserves praise for throwing not only bodies into the show but hearts and souls, which is always a sweet thing to watch.

-- T.E. Kalem

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